LSE shares one third of the added income from higher fees

LSE will spend a third of the additional income it receives from the new £3,000 fee regime on student support, starting in October 2006.

This is significantly higher than the benchmark of 20 per cent proposed by the Office of Fair Access (OFFA).

The greater part of the School's efforts will go to fund an LSE Bursary Plan for poorer students. It is likely that at least a quarter of the students paying the new fee level will qualify for some bursary relief.

The maximum bursary will be £7,500, or £2,500 a year; this will taper down to zero for students who will not be eligible for government support. The LSE Bursary Plan will be applied uniformly across all departments in the School.

LSE Director Howard Davies said: 'We have opted for a generous scheme which is egalitarian in approach. Anyone who qualifies for a government maintenance grant under the new arrangements will get additional support from us. It is a sliding scale of entitlement so that higher awards will go to the most hard up. Both the academic community and our Students' Union feel the important thing is to help as many students as possible, and in a demonstrably fair way.'

In addition to the automatic LSE Bursary Plan, the School will increase the amounts it already provides for those in particular need, for those who experience unexpected hardship once they have arrived, and for those with particular accommodation and study problems. In addition we will embed a campus 'job shop' to help find part-time work for students who need to supplement their income.

In a very direct sense, the School's new package of financial support is designed to increase access to the School by tackling financial inhibitions that could otherwise deter people from studying here.

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